Guest Crankshaft Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 AMD Athalon 64 3200+ 512K 90nm Rev. E Venice.... thoughts? I'd like to significantly enhance my computer's perfomance; I have 2.6 gigs of DDR2 memory, an ATI X800 ST graphics card (year old technology), and just a basic Pentium 4 processor, so it seems like getting a new processor is the next best step. From what I've read, the AMD 64 FX is the best, even as most applications still only use 32 bits. My question is what is the best processor to get (I'm willing to pay about $200, and the AMD is $173), and is getting a new processor really the best use of money in terms of boosting my gaming performance? Should I get a dual core processor? I'd go for dual graphics cards, but they all seem to be well above $1,000 at this point, so I think I'll sit on that for a while. And if I get the AMD, I'll also need a new motherboard like the Socket 939, but those are only about $70, so that isn't really an issue. Motherboard Processor Suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSSon Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Better mobo. Supports SLI if you do decide to use dual vid cards (dual vid cards = nvidia only). and if you're set on the biostar, newegg has it for $9 less. I just bought this mobo. So far I really like it, although my on-board audio seems to have been DOA. It has an AGP 8x slot and a PCI-E x16 slot for when I'm ready to upgrade. That monarch pc link you posted has some decent prices on combo deals. They're about equal to newegg's prices, plus they throw in HL2. I picked up a 3700+ recently, and it's waaaay faster than my Athlon XP 2600+. So, I can say that I strongly reccomend that processor. It has a higher clock speed, and 1mb of L2 cache vs. 512kb on the venice powered 3200+ for a marginal price difference. What speed P4 do you have now? What speed FSB? If it's an older P4 (sub 3GHz) you'll notice a substantial increase in gaming performance. I literally doubled my frame rate in HL2 coming from the 2600+. The x800 is still a card to be reckoned with, I wouldn't throw it out quite yet. How much ram is on that card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemosley01 Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Define 'basic' pentium 4? How fast, how old? Does it have hyperthreading, etc? The boosts you see from a AMD 64 on 32-bit windows are due to the higher clockspeed/more efficient pipelines. Unless you are planning to upgrade to Windows XP 64, you won't gain any of the benefits. You will also need to buy a new motherboard. That being said, if I were shopping for a new processor/mobo combo, I would definitely do a 64-bit to somewhat prepare myself for the future. If you play 3d games, then most of those are NOT CPU bound, if you have any reasonably recent processor. They are typically video-card bound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorback Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Well the deal with the Athlon 64's -- I currently have a 3700+ San Diego which is pretty nice for a single core cpu. However if you're freshly upgrading I'd hate to see you get anything other than an X2 with two cores. Mainboard is completley up to you. I'm guessing you meant X800 XT instead of ST? If so, you're fine for atleast a while longer. I have an X800 XT AIW myself and it plays FEAR on my system with AA/AF enabled, soft shadows enabled, everything on maximum with no lag. Good luck to ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 +1 for the x2's I have a 939 3200@3500 and an 6800gt and FEAR runs great on my box. The videocard is really what makes a machine. I've got a p4 2ghz 1gig ram with a 6800gt that plays fear also. But yeah a x2 4000 is a nice setup basicly its a dual core 3200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Crankshaft Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 My intel chip has 3.26ghz with HE, and the X800 ST (a version just below the XT) has (I'm pretty sure) 256 ram. Admittedly , I don't know a ton about this subject, so like I said above if you think I could spend about $250 on something that would improve my system more than a new mother board and processor, I'd like to know. I play FEAR, Ages 3, Black and White 2, Doom 3, HL2 and Far Cry on practically top settings (minus some Anti-aliasing and vertical sync) with no lag whatsoever. However, where I do encounter problems is on games like City of Heroes when I turn the "world detail" up, it begins to heavily lag. Also, on CSS, on many maps (like Militia, Chataeu, Assault), I get light to moderate lag with graphics on full. On other maps (Aztec, Dust(2), Office), I can run it on full with no issues whatsoever. I would like to remedy this so that I can play any game on the market with no lag, or at the very least all but the most graphically demanding. Also, all of the X2's I looked at--even those at 1.8 ghz-- seem to be about $600+, with the nice one's coming in at over a thousand. That's a bit too much. Droptop- that 3700 looks good; much better than the one I found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorback Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 I tell you what man, send me your entire system specs. Mainboard, CPU, Video Card (exact model) & AGP or PCI-E, RAM type (brand, how many sticks, size, etc.) and power supply and I'll tell you the best bang for the buck upgrade that will be easiest on your wallet and will increase your gaming experience the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Crankshaft Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Hard Drive: 80GB, Serial ATA, 7.2K, 8M, WD-XL80SD Processor: Pentium 4, 3.20ghz with HE Mainboard: Intel 925X chipset (is that what you're looking for?) Graphics Card: Radeon ATI X800 ST (PCI-E) Memory: 2 sticks of 1,024mb DDR2 RAM by Ultra, and 2 sticks of 256mb DDR2 from factory by Dell Power: 460 watt power supply with two 80mm fans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorback Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Okay by looking at your stuff you will benefit greatly by just upgrading the video card. RAM is fine (you need 2+ gigs in today's games to fully enjoy them). Your processor is definitely a little outdated and WILL bottleneck a newer video card, BUT you will see better improvement from upgrading ONLY the video card rather than ONLY the CPU. If you can afford it, upgrade to an Athlon 64 as they ARE the better gaming processors AND a new video card. What is your video card budget? I know the 7800 GT is a well priced card (around $300) which will significantly out perform the card you have now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Crankshaft Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 If by picking up the 7800 GT I would be maximizing my dollar/performance ratio, then that's what I'll do. My other choice was going to be to get the AMD 3700 processor + new 939 Socket mainboard. But, if you think $300 would be best spent on a new graphics card, I defer to your better judgment. And if I bought the new AMD 64 processor, I would have to get the new mainboard as well, as my current setup would not support the new chip. So that would bring the total to about $650, with graphics card. A bit too steep. The 7800 GT has 512 memory, doesn't it? And Tiger Direct and New Egg list it from $400 to a refurbished $299 And, by the way, my graphics card is an X800 SE, not ST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorback Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 It has 256MB. Hang on I'll link you. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130247 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 78novaman Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Yeah right now I'd say your slowest component is that X800SE. I have a X800XL (a bit faster GPU) and it's the slowest part of mine. I've got the newer 64bit 3.2Ghz P4 and it's fast as hell. Buy one 7800GT right now, and then in a year or so you can buy the SLI mobo & another 7800 for peanuts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorback Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 $275 actually after the rebate. Helluva deal for the performance. I mean don't get me wrong, I'd love to see you upgrade your processor also to maximize on to FULLY utilize the new video card's power but I know you don't want to spend the $$ on it right now. But yeah, that's what I would do with the $$ right now if I had your system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Crankshaft Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Done and done. I'm gonna get the 7800 GT now and then hopefully this summer after a little work I'll pick up a new mainboard and processor. BTW, what's the difference between these two cards (aside from $20) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130247 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139175 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Jones Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Call me an economist....... celery D 2.8 O/C to 3.82 $4x.xx Asus P4P 800e Deluxe $5x.xx 1GB Generic DDR 4200 $100.00 GF 6800GT O/C to Ultra+ $140.00 Playing CS:S @ 1280X1024 w/ full everything @ 90-100 FPS Priceless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorback Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 Done and done. I'm gonna get the 7800 GT now and then hopefully this summer after a little work I'll pick up a new mainboard and processor. BTW, what's the difference between these two cards (aside from $20) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130247 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139175 Doesn't look like anything other than the brand. I'm sure each one probably has a different Retail package (software that comes with the card). And after pulling up the entire list of 7800 GTs on Newegg, this is actually the cheapest one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127190 Although EVGA is a really good brand so you're safe to stick with them. Check out the Retail package on all of them and see which one you like better as Newegg will warranty the card for the first 30 days no matter what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 Okay by looking at your stuff you will benefit greatly by just upgrading the video card. RAM is fine (you need 2+ gigs in today's games to fully enjoy them). Your processor is definitely a little outdated and WILL bottleneck a newer video card, BUT you will see better improvement from upgrading ONLY the video card rather than ONLY the CPU. If you can afford it, upgrade to an Athlon 64 as they ARE the better gaming processors AND a new video card. What is your video card budget? I know the 7800 GT is a well priced card (around $300) which will significantly out perform the card you have now. 1-1.5 gig is more then enough ram btw . If you look at task manager most games use 700+ megs of ram or so but i've yet even playing everquest got my machine to use all 2gigs of ram.. but 7800 or 7800GTX would help alot. Like i said my 2ghz with6800gt can play most everything my 3500 can stay away from celerons when you can get amd64's for such a good price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 78novaman Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 Actually my reccomendation would be either http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150108 ^^^free (older)games or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150124 If you want to spend a little more cash, go with this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143042 ^^COD2 bundled A friend of mine got that BFG one and it is FAST! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorback Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 1-1.5 gig is more then enough ram btw . If you look at task manager most games use 700+ megs of ram or so but i've yet even playing everquest got my machine to use all 2gigs of ram.. but 7800 or 7800GTX would help alot. Like i said my 2ghz with6800gt can play most everything my 3500 can stay away from celerons when you can get amd64's for such a good price Oh you can get by on a gig. But when I play a game I don't like to just get by. When I first got FEAR and had 1 gig, I had choppiness all over the place from the harddrive constantly swapping files. Upgraded to 2 gigs for not really a whole lot of $$ and it couldn't be smoother now. No game ever forces the harddrive to access. I almost never see the HDD light even flicker with anything anymore. So yes, you could get by with 1-1.5 gigs. But opt for doing better than that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 AGreed BTW I still have that DVD for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unleashed Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 And if I bought the new AMD 64 processor, I would have to get the new mainboard as well, as my current setup would not support the new chip. So that would bring the total to about $650, with graphics card. A bit too steep. Be careful, the AMD's do not support DDR2 RAM. So your 2.6 gigs of memory would be useless. Thus adding even more to your expenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBussman1647545507 Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 yea now that you have DDR2 your stuck with intel, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 good news EMT64 is the same instructions that AMD uses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Crankshaft Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 So - no AMD Processor and no AMD graphics card? Or just ... which? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morabu Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 graphics cards are universal, no AMD or INTEL....all you need to make sure of is the card slot type, agp or pci-xpress nowadays. and btw....AMD's new socket M which is coming out within the next few months DOES Officially support DDR2....so by the time you do upgrade your cpu/mobo i would still choose AMD over INTEL anyday of the week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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